Two Steps Forward by Suzanne Woods Fisher

Author:Suzanne Woods Fisher
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Amish Romance;Amish—­Fiction;Christian fiction;Love stories;FIC053000;FIC042040;FIC027020
ISBN: 9781493421121
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2019-11-20T16:00:00+00:00

Eleven

Jimmy noticed Sylvie before she noticed him. Today there’d been no sightings of her or Joey at the house. Every so often he would pause, turn toward the house, and search for some sign of her. When she finally emerged from the house and strode across the yard, he was filled with a quiet delight. There was no denying she was a fine figure of a woman. But more than that, there was a sense of purpose to her stride that made him stand at attention. She looked up, saw him, and gave a wave, heading in his direction.

She rarely came looking for him. He was the one who sought her out throughout the day, to ask questions, to find something . . . and often to just connect with her. His heart beat a little faster as she approached him. “Looking for something?” Someone like me, perhaps? He wondered if her insides were stirring like his.

But she was intent, not on him, but on something else entirely. She shielded her eyes from the sun as a Cooper’s hawk swooped low, letting out a raucous cry before it descended on an unlucky field mouse. As it swept up into the gray sky with its prey in its talons, Sylvie released a mournful breath. “I don’t know who to root for in nature. The hawk or the mouse? One has to lose for the other to win.”

“That’s a result of the fall,” Jimmy said, sounding a lot like the new and improved Deacon Luke, even to his own ears. “The survival of the fittest. It wasn’t the way God first intended the world to be. And it’ll be different in Heaven. The lion and the lamb will lie down together.”

She dropped her hand from her forehead to peer at him curiously. “I never heard such a thing.”

“It’s in the Bible.”

“Is that right?” she said softly. “I do like such a thought. I can just imagine the two of them, the lion and the lamb, sitting peacefully together in a meadow. Maybe under a willow tree.” She tipped her head. “Think they’ll have angel wings, like people?”

“What?”

“That’s in the Good Book.” The corners of her lips lifted. “Maybe you should listen more in church.”

Me? She was the one who was always misquoting it. He wasn’t sure if she even knew the Old Testament from the New. He braved a question. “Sylvie, have you ever actually read the Bible?”

Her smile dimmed and her eyes narrowed, ever so slightly. “I heard it read. Lots of times.”

“But you never read it for yourself?”

Her eyes fixed on the empty paddock. “Where’s Prince?”

“I took him in when I saw the storm clouds gathering. November’s full of surprises. Snow one day, rain the next.” He waited, then repeated his question. “Have you never read the Bible for yourself?”

“Reading the Bible is best left to the ministers. It’s their job to interpret it.”

“Who told you that?”

She shifted uncomfortably. “My father.”

“Didn’t you ever question the bishop?”

She gave him a sly grin.

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